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Amber Tamblyn is opening up about the complexities of having plastic surgery as a preteen.
On Sunday, the actress published a guest essay for the New York Times in which she reflected on going under the knife at just 12 years old (!!!) and how the pressures of the industry influenced her decision at the time. You see, for the 41-year-old, it was her ears that were always an insecurity. She recalled:
“As a little girl I had ears that stuck out like big butterfly wings. Some kids at my school in Los Angeles would make fun of them, and I’d often stare at myself in the mirror wishing my ears would lay flat against my head.”
Ugh. Kids can be so mean!
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She ultimately decided to “undergo ear-pinning surgery” at 12 when she landed her first “major role on a TV show.” That would seemingly reference her casting as Emily Bowen on General Hospital from 1995 to 2001. As it was, after being bullied at school, the last thing she wanted was to get bullied by the whole world, too. She reflected:
“But once I knew millions of people all over the world would be judging me on their television screens, not just on a playground, that knowledge changed everything for me.”
On her parents’ thought process, she added:
“For years, my parents watched me struggle with private shame, though they understood I was a tough kid who could handle it.”
Still, it was the right decision for Amber at the time and they let her go ahead with the surgery. According to the Cleveland Clinic, ear pinning is an elective surgery in which your ears are permanently brought closer to your head. It’s mostly done by kids and teens for cosmetic reasons. So, of all plastic surgeries to be getting as a kid, this wasn’t an unusual option!
While she stands by her decision, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants alum has changed her opinion slightly on plastic surgery, especially when it comes to women in the entertainment industry. While at the time she considered herself a “fiery young feminist,” she now realizes that she was also conforming to traditional beauty standards. She noted:
“Yet in changing my own body, I was also a hypocrite who gave in to it — because how could anyone not? Going under the knife felt like choosing a weapon I could wield in self-defense against my own disposability. […] It showed the world I understood the assignment of assimilation — that I could do whatever it took to fit in, never stand out, the way my ears once did.”
In the essay, she reflected on how she connected to Demi Moore‘s new horror film The Substance, which centers on an aging TV star who takes an experimental drug to be reborn into a younger body. Amber knows just what it’s like to age in the industry, too. She recalled that a director once told her “that the key to a long-lasting career was to stay as young as possible for as long as possible.” She also overheard an agent “describe representing actresses who are past their 30s as ‘hell on earth.'” Jeez.
All this makes her think about her own surgery experience in a new light, as she remarked:
“Would I be less happy if I had fought against the desire to get my ears pinned back, if they still stuck out today? I don’t know — but I do think about it often, and about my willingness to align myself with the industry’s expectations.”
The House alum continued:
“My experience, and ‘The Substance,’ are not just Hollywood stories. These are universal realities for any woman, no matter her background or profession. The subtle messages of sexism are passed down to us as generational wisdom, almost from birth. As little girls, we are taught to value the worth of what our bodies can grow up to be, and then we spend a lifetime in debt trying to achieve it. There’s plastic surgery, yes, but there’s also the tenure of self-torment that teaches us that nothing we say, do, weigh or want is ever right — it can only be made less wrong.”
All that said, she still doesn’t think plastic surgery is evil! She expressed:
“I’m not saying that plastic surgery is bad or that everyone who elects to change their bodies regrets their decision — my 12-year-old self included. There can be agency and even self-love involved with the choice, and for some of us there are deeply personal reasons for doing so.”
She added that Demi’s character in the movie “is a warning to all of us about what we might be willing to destroy in the name of desirability; about the monsters we might be willing to become in pursuit of perfection.” She candidly wrote:
“I am quite content with the writer, actress and artist I’ve become — encroaching crow’s feet, chin hairs and all. But I’m also not immune to wanting to feel beautiful and desired, and indulging in that need. I don’t apologize for what I’ve done, or for what I haven’t. My relationship to my body has changed, healed even, as I’ve become more protective, compassionate and honest.”
Whoa!
Such a thoughtful reflection and perspective on plastic surgery! See her post about the essay (below):
Thoughts?? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
English (US) ·